French · Spleen and Ideal

Le Masque

The Mask

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Allegorical statue in the taste of the Renaissance
StatueStatuestatue · noun, feminine, singularhead of the phrase (title)
allégoriqueallegoricalallégorique · adjective, singularmodifies Statue
dansindans · prepositionpreposition marking goût
lethele · determiner, masculine, singulardeterminer of goût
goûttastegoût · noun, masculine, singularmodifies Statue
deofde · prepositionpreposition marking Renaissance
lathele · determiner, feminine, singulardeterminer of Renaissance
RenaissanceRenaissanceRenaissance · proper noun, feminine, singularmodifies goût
Word«Statue allégorique» — the poem's epigraph This first line is not verse but the sculpture's own descriptive title, printed beneath «Le Masque» as an epigraph. «dans le goût de la Renaissance» means 'in the taste / manner of the Renaissance'. It frames the whole poem as the description of a real two-faced statue by Baudelaire's friend Christophe.
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To Ernest Christophe, sculptor.
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Let us contemplate this treasure of Florentine graces;
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In the undulation of this muscular body
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Elegance and Strength abound, divine sisters.
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This woman, a truly miraculous morsel,
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Divinely robust, adorably slender,
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Is made to sit enthroned upon sumptuous beds
Word«trôner» — to sit enthroned «trôner» is built from «le trône» (the throne): 'to sit enthroned, to reign'. «Est faite pour trôner sur des lits somptueux» — 'is made to be enthroned upon sumptuous beds' — gives the sculpted woman the bearing of a queen or idol, the same regal stillness Baudelaire's «belles» so often hold.
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And to charm the leisure of a pontiff or a prince.
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— And so, behold this smile, refined and voluptuous,
Grammar«aussi» in initial position — 'and so, therefore' When «aussi» opens a clause (rather than meaning 'also'), it means 'and so, therefore, consequently' and often triggers inversion in formal prose. Here, after the em-dash that marks a turn to the listener, «— Aussi, vois...» = 'And so, look...'. The dash signals the speaker pivoting to point things out to a companion.
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Where Self-Conceit parades its rapture;
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This long gaze, sly, languorous, and mocking;
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This dainty face, all framed in gauze,
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Whose every feature tells us with a conquering air:
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"Voluptuousness calls me and Love crowns me!"
GrammarObject pronouns «me / m'» before the verb French places unstressed object pronouns before the verb: «La Volupté m'appelle» = 'Voluptuousness calls me', «l'Amour me couronne» = 'Love crowns me'. The «m'» is «me» elided before a vowel. The guillemets «...» quote the boast the statue's face seems to make.
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To this being endowed with such majesty
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See what an exciting charm her prettiness bestows!
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Let us draw near, and turn about her beauty.
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O blasphemy of art! O fatal surprise!
Word«le blasphème» — blasphemy, sacrilege «le blasphème» is blasphemy, an outrage against the sacred. «Ô blasphème de l'art!» — 'O blasphemy of art!' — is the poet's cry on discovering the second face: the beautiful body that 'promises bliss' is a sacrilege because it lies. The exclamation marks and the doubled «ô» carry the recoil of the revelation.
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The woman with the divine body, promising bliss,
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Above the waist ends in a two-headed monster!
Word«bicéphale» — two-headed «bicéphale» is a Greco-Latin compound: «bi-» is a Latin prefix meaning 'two', while «-céphale» derives from Greek «kephalē» (head). A purely Greek form would be «dikephalos». It describes the statue's hidden second head. «Par le haut se termine en monstre bicéphale» — literally 'ends, by the upper part, in a two-headed monster'. The flawless body conceals a second, grieving face turned behind the smiling one — the 'mask' of the title.
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— But no! it is only a mask, a seducing disguise,
Word«suborneur» — seducing, beguiling «suborneur» (feminine «suborneuse») means 'seducing, leading astray, suborning' — one who bribes or beguiles. «un décor suborneur» — 'a seducing stage-set / disguise' — names the smiling mask as a deliberate deception, a painted scenery that lures the eye away from the truth behind it.
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This face lit up with an exquisite grimace,
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And, look, behold, clenched atrociously,
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The true head, and the sincere face
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Turned over, sheltered behind the face that lies.
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Poor great beauty! the magnificent river
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Of your tears flows into my anxious heart;
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Your lie intoxicates me, and my soul drinks deep
GrammarReflexive «s'abreuver» — to drink one's fill «s'abreuver» is the pronominal verb 'to drink, to slake one's thirst' (often of animals at water). «mon âme s'abreuve / Aux flots...» = 'my soul drinks deep from the floods...'. The reflexive makes the soul both drinker and vessel, feeding on the tears Sorrow makes gush from her eyes.
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From the floods that Sorrow makes gush from your eyes!
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— But why does she weep? She, perfect beauty,
GrammarInversion in a question: «pleure-t-elle» A formal question inverts verb and subject pronoun: «pourquoi pleure-t-elle?» = 'why does she weep?'. The «-t-» is a euphonic buffer inserted between the verb's final vowel and «elle» so the two vowels don't collide. The dash again marks a new speaker breaking in with the question.
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Who could lay the conquered human race at her feet,
GrammarConditional «mettrait» — 'who would / could lay' «mettrait» is the conditional of «mettre» (to put, place): 'would put / could put'. «Qui mettrait à ses pieds le genre humain vaincu» = 'who could lay the conquered human race at her feet'. The conditional measures her power as potential — a beauty that could subdue all mankind, yet still weeps.
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What mysterious ill gnaws her athlete's flank?
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— She weeps, fool, because she has lived!
Grammar«vivre» in the passé composé: «a vécu» «vécu» is the irregular past participle of «vivre» (to live). «parce qu'elle a vécu» = 'because she has lived'. The blunt answer to the question lands here: she weeps simply because she has lived — and, the next line insists, «parce qu'elle vit», because she still lives.
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And because she lives! But what she laments
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Above all, what makes her shudder to the knees,
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Is that tomorrow, alas! she must go on living!
GrammarImpersonal «falloir» in the future: «il faudra» «falloir» ('to be necessary') exists only in the impersonal «il» form. «il faudra vivre encore» = 'one will have to / she will have to go on living'. The future tense turns survival into a sentence rather than a gift — the dread that makes her «frémir jusqu'aux genoux», shudder to the knees.
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Tomorrow, the day after, and forever! — like us!

The particulars

The text: Les Fleurs du mal, Charles Baudelaire. Spleen and Ideal.
Words: Every word of the text, by letter.
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